


Appendices - There is no turning back

by StarlightAsteria



Series: There is no turning back [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Characters have Napoleon tendencies, Complicated Relationships, Deconstructing the problematic White Saviour trope, Don't Like Don't Read, Jaime centric, Love Triangles, Meta, Sansa-centric, Unrequited Love, appendices, my writing process
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-09-25 12:05:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17121035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightAsteria/pseuds/StarlightAsteria
Summary: by popular demand, my writing process notes for my fic 'There is no turning back'.





	1. JAIME I - NOTES

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> As promised, my writing process notes for TINTB. This probably won't make any sense if you haven't read that. 
> 
> Enjoy, and as always I enjoy hearing what you lovely people think.

PART ONE - JAIME I

 

23/12/18 The JRR Tolkien quotation from which the title of the whole novel is taken stuck pretty early on. It was a vague, instinctive feeling that I had found my title more than some sort of ‘eureka’ moment. I don’t know that I thought then that it referred specifically to a particular character or scene or plot arc etc - indeed I think it can be applied equally to Jaime and Sansa as well as Daenerys or Tyrion or Jon, for example. I only knew when I came up with the title that it felt right, and sometimes that’s enough to go on. Unlike some of my other stories, there never was a ‘working title’ - it was always TINTB from the very beginning. 

 

Once I had a notion, vague though it might have been, of the basic premise - namely that Jaime rides North with an army - the next thing I locked down was the alternating Sansa and Jaime POV. I chose them for several reasons: for one that they are the two principal characters, and so it made sense, but also that I find them easier to write than, say, Arya or Tyrion. Furthermore, as the story began to sprawl beyond my original little three-chapter idea to something far more resembling the current juggernaut, the alternating POV became not merely an aid to keeping control of the story, but fundamental to retaining said control. Otherwise it would have become far too unwieldy in scope to write, I think. POV is fundamental; that’s one of the most important things I’ve learnt thus far in the writing of this story. It’s more than deciding which characters to focus on; those characters eyes are the way the story is told. I was tempted, a few times, to include a Tyrion or Daenerys or Jon POV, but I’m quite happy that as of yet I haven’t planned one. For the simple reason that sticking to the alternating Jaime & Sansa POV forces me to think very carefully about scene structures and how I want the story to be told, and I think my writing and this story specifically is the stronger for it. It forces me to be more creative, conscious and intentional with my scene construction, because when you have an ensemble cast and multiple concurrent storylines, planning and plotting is crucial. Not just doing a plot outline, but breaking down the outline into chapters, assigning POVs to specific scenes, re-ordering scenes accordingly. I’ve found this also helps me with my motivation - not just having the whole thing plotted out, POVs assigned etc, with the caveat that I can add things in as and when they occur to me, and if they fit, which they don’t always - because it means I can relax when I write. I know I only have to focus on the current scene, of course weaving leitmotifs and themes and foreshadowing in accordingly, and that makes the whole process much less stressful. I know the chapter is going to work, because I’ve already tested out the idea. 

 

I would not have been able to develop this story so comprehensively without the help of my wonderful beta northernsky - who has been an absolute gem over the past year or so, debating ideas back and forth, untangling plot holes, discussing characterisation, reading over sections I was uncertain about. I absolutely would not be able to do this without a beta. As much from a motivational as story-structural point of view. The simple act of talking your ideas through with someone else is something I find immensely helpful, and something that is pretty integral to my writing process. 

 

Now, onto my notes for this actual chapter. I was going for something very cinematic with this opening; starting with a sort of landscape shot, Jaime seeing from a distance, straight off the bat just what Sansa has been achieving materially at Winterfell. The obvious contrast, of course, is Jaime arriving at Winterfell at the beginning of the series - but the other scene from the show that I took inspiration from in this was Jaime’s arrival back in King’s Landing after the Sept of Baelor has been blown up by Cersei. The image of Jaime being greeted by a sea of tents and fortifications - a war camp - is significant because it immediately and materially puts both Jaime and Sansa on a more equal footing than Jaime approaching a castle with thirty thousand cavalry and infantry. That’s a very different image. It also felt like a good way of introducing the important notions of logistics and co-operation in a way that was understandable but not overt. 

 

Even at this first proper meeting between these two characters who have had parallel thematic journeys but never interacted, I wanted there to be a subconscious admiration and attraction - though he does not realise it - on Jaime’s part from the beginning. He’s finally coming face to face with his ‘last chance for honour’, which is hugely significant for his characterisation, and I hope I did that first encounter justice. The rapport between the two of them, between Sansa and Jaime, which at this stage is something like mutual curiosity and a willingness to co-operation, for the time being at least, establishes itself quite naturally, quite organically. And that’s because there’s this moment of sympathy that neither of them expects, where they each find the other witty as well as forthright. They suddenly see the other as not merely a figurehead of an enemy house but instead as human. And then, of course, Jaime offers Sansa his life, and that is what makes Sansa go from curiosity, glimmerings of vague interest, to respect. Had he reacted any differently to her mentioning her younger brother Bran, she would not have warmed to him in the way she does. And that leads them to this rather wonderful moment of realisation when they realise precisely how similar and parallel their journeys in life have been.

 

The latter half of the chapter takes a darker turn. Jaime recounting Lord Tarly & Dickon Tarly’s summary executions, the ravens, Bran’s visions, the battle with the Night King itself. Again, Sansa’s reactions are those Jaime pays most attention to, subconsciously. Set-piece battle scenes are difficult to write, notoriously so, due to the sheer amount of goings on that occur, and getting the tone of this right was a real challenge. I do love a good soliloquy, though. The speeches and letters in this story are the only things I’ve written out of sequence - though this particular rallying speech of Sansa’s was not. The decision to give the speech to Sansa was obvious - Winterfell is her home, so it was only logical that she should have it. 

 

Jaime’s mental and emotional state during the battle was something I considered at some length. He feels alive when he fights but he is not a berserker - which is how I imagine Robert Baratheon fighting. Jaime is preternaturally good. And that is how I came upon the idea of ‘cold clarity’. Just as athletes talk about ‘the zone’ - a very focused, fluid, alert, clear state of mind, Jaime’s clarity of mind in combat is something similar. Some people have said that there’s no way Jaime would be good enough to defeat the Night King. To that I say Jaime has had fuck all else to do during all his time stuck in King’s Landing except to spend his time training, so that’s what he’s been doing, in my opinion. When we add in the context that due to all the teleporting going on in seasons 6 and 7 of the show, attempting to come up with a coherent timeline of events is nigh on impossible, I think S6-7 cover a substantial length of time, which means the idea of Jaime defeating the Night King no longer becomes so far fetched. 

 

Bringing Arthur Dayne into the equation - the only man Jaime has ever wholeheartedly admired - made sense to me because I think it’s actually a big part of Jaime’s characterisation, and a part that isn’t much talked about, or at least I haven’t come across it being much spoken of, or being explored in any sort of depth, so I wanted to do some of that here. It also brings in the leitmotif of the dawn and all the symbolism that entails, as well as the symbolism of all that Arthur Dayne represents for Jaime generally. Several characters, including Sansa and Jaime have important conversations at various significant points in the narrative at that time of day, looking out at the sunrise. Bringing in Arthur at this point also felt right in the context of Jaime’s redemption narrative, I think.

 

I’m rather enamoured of the fan theory that Bran is the Night King somehow, so I just decided to include it. 

 

There were also complaints from this first initial chapter that Jon and Daenerys were being portrayed unfairly as characters, despite all the events Jaime mentions being canon - for example Daenerys unleashing her dragons in the way that she has done. That’s all canon. There was also issue taken with my tagging the Jon/Daenerys relationship because the story is not focused upon them as the two principal characters. For the sake of brevity I will briefly restate my reasons for doing so: a) the Jon/Daenerys relationship has a pretty fundamental impact upon the narrative and upon the other characters b) Jon and Daenerys, whilst not the principal protagonists of my tale, are still characters of central importance to the story and therefore it would be wrong not to tag their relationship c) I think the tags I have are pretty self-explanatory.

 

I was not expecting to have to defend my decisions in such a way, especially because I don’t understand why, if people don’t like what they come across, they feel the need to leave a rude comment instead of simply closing the tab. Thankfully the majority of you lovely readers are kind, encouraging people, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you both for your support and defence; it means a lot.

 

Whilst this chapter is focused on Jaime, we also see his perspective on Sansa, which has been briefly mentioned earlier, but the specifically significant thing is the following: just as he has learnt by observing Aerys, Robert, Joffrey and Cersei how not to rule, Jaime realises that Sansa has learnt the same thing. This lays the building blocks for their similarities of thought in political philosophy which becomes fundamentally significant in later chapters, but it also lays out the fact of the vassal-liege relationship being reciprocal in feudal societies. That reciprocity was not merely fundamental to law and order but also the very definition of feudalism itself. If you look at why various lords/barons/princes/prelates have rebelled in european history, it is generally because they have some legitimate complaint, the ruler either infringing upon or breaking and disregarding outright his or her own feudal obligations to his or her subjects. Put simply, it is a two-way street. Thus, in Westeros, Aerys the Mad breaks this covenant when he denies Lord Rickard Stark the right to petition and restitution for the wrongs Rhaegar committed against House Stark by absconding with Lyanna and summarily executes the Lord Paramount of the North and his heir instead. As soon as one side breaks the reciprocal obligation, rebellion and retribution is not only legitimate but expected. If Lord Rickard Stark and Brandon Stark had simply allowed Rhaegar to go unchallenged for disappearing with Lyanna, the betrothed only daughter of a Lord Paramount, House Stark would have lost all respect in the North, thereby leading to serious political instability. If Ned Stark had not called for his banners after Aerys executed his elder brother and father, Ned Stark would have been considered unfit to rule by the Northmen. Joffrey breaks the covenant by executing Ned Stark without proper trial and on trumped up charges. Robb breaks the covenant by disregarding his betrothal agreement with Lord Frey his bannerman and marrying elsewhere instead. Daenerys breaks it by executing summarily Lords Randyll and Dickon Tarly, who were at that point unarmed prisoners of war, and because they were highborn expected to be held for ransom - because that is the way things are done. That is the Westerosi code of war. If Daenerys wants to rule, she has to work within the feudal framework of the liege-vassal reciprocal relationship all the time; she cannot discard it when she feels like it without consequences. 

 

That is what, as we shall come to see in later chapters, what separates Sansa and Jaime as leaders from the rest: not only their awareness of this reciprocity and its fundamental, near sacred importance, but also that they see it as an advantage to work within that framework. They do not, like Cersei or Joffrey or Robb or Daenerys see it as an unnecessary limit upon the power of the monarch, as something to resent having to deal with. 

 

So this story is also a story about political consequences, and a clash of differing philosophies of rule, as much as it is a story about individual human relationships.

 

Looking back at the comments section for this chapter, I have to admit I’m particularly fond of the debate about whether a woman can rule without setting foot upon the battlefield - that’s an absolute cracker lol. Another thing was the debate about the difference between a ruler and a conqueror. I knew it was going to be a fundamental theme from the outset, but this debate crystallised it for me. The comments section, too, is an important part of my writing process. The encouragement and enthusiasm is always immensely gratifying and helpful. But it also means that I can see in real time whether and what all you lovely readers are picking up of my use of leitmotifs and foreshadowing, whether the narrative foundations laid are being built upon in the way that I wish for them to be.

 

It is also in this chapter that readers began picking up upon the two major inspirations I have for Daenerys’s character - her Napoleonic tendencies, and her embodiment of the highly problematic White Saviour Trope which is explored as the narrative unfolds in more detail. My opinion is that we are meant to be uncomfortable with her actions in canon, that we are being invited to analyse them. I believe her canon narrative arc is the archetypal villain origin story, and she is far more interesting to me as a character if she is indeed dancing upon that fault-line. I do know some would disagree with me because they would prefer her to be what appears to be a rather bland (and not particularly successful at that) hero. I think if you view Daenerys as on the villain origin arc, if you see her gradually falling over that line having first teetered and wavered upon it, that actually gives her more depth, therefore making her a more compelling character. 


	2. SANSA I - NOTES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Welcome to this next instalment, which is the chapter notes for chapter two of TINTB. Again, this probably won't make much sense if you haven't read 'There is no turning back' first.
> 
> Thank you to all you lovely people who have commented and messaged me your support for this endeavour: I do this in my free time, it's a real labour of love, so your enthusiasm and defence means so much to me. Thank you, and I hope you are all enjoying the holidays at this time of year. 
> 
> I welcome debate, but if we could keep the discussion respectful of each other that would be very much appreciated. 
> 
> Dear trolls, I'm telling you now, you won't be able to bully me out. That ain't gonna happen.

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

PART TWO - SANSA I

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

27/12/18 - War is not merely the battlefield, but also the aftermath. The infirmary, the graveyard, the pyre after pyre after pyre, the grief and exhaustion and pushing through because it is your duty. That is Sansa’s state of mind at the beginning of this chapter. That is her experience - sewing up soldiers’ legs only to watch them die hours later of blood loss. Singing to them, offering them comfort and hope - all things traditionally within the feminine sphere, and traditionally glossed over in many stories of this genre. What interested me first and foremost is the impact these relentless duties have on Sansa, as well as portraying that part of the aftermath of a battle more generally. It was important to me to portray Sansa’s femininity positively, because to me it is just as important and valid as the more masculine spheres of activity. 

 

That is something that continues throughout the narrative - there is a sort of spotlight, I suppose I might call it, upon things such as Sansa’s fashion, as well as arts and architecture more generally. Which I think is also me indulging myself in writing what I personally want to read - but I think what’s the point in writing something if you don’t want to read it yourself, so. I see Sansa’s femininity as one of her greatest strengths, and I hope that comes across. Some of my inspirations for this approach are Jane Austen, and Elisabeth Gaskell - the latter memorably including lengthy descriptions of fabrics in _North and South_ for example. I really recommend both authors; I think they’re fantastic.

 

Sansa’s resistance to her abusers in both the books and the show is subtle. She very early on masters the art of doublespeak, for instance. Were she to show more overt resistance, like killing Joffrey, to take one example, that’s it - that’s game over for her. She’d be dead before the day was out. Sansa is a survivor, first and foremost, learning from her surroundings. She has survived by making everyone think that she is nothing more than an empty headed doll; the ideal puppet. TINTB is about how, finding herself in a position of real agency for the first time in her life, Sansa now chooses to use that agency, how she chooses to rule. TINTB is about how she must - and Jaime must - simultaneously be a human and a ruler. So Sansa gets tired, she grieves, she shows emotion, whilst still carrying out her duties and obligations. And that garners her soldiers’ respect, because even though they see she is as mortal as they are, she keeps going, she never gives in, and that is hugely inspiring to them. 

 

Sansa’s hospital rounds also give her the opportunity, again, to draw another thread of commonality between her and Jaime. The conversation they have upon Winterfell’s ramparts watching the rising dawn cements their friendship, I think. This is the moment where they go from professional admiration and respect to personal admiration and respect. The banter between them was also fun to write, and when they come to speak about Arthur Dayne, that shifts the conversation into more personal territory. And including the Arthur/Elia stuff was again, me indulging myself because Elia deserved better than her fate in canon. A big theme in canon, and in TINTB too, is the extent of the tragedy caused by lusting after a person you can’t have, and the ramifications if the lovers are too selfish and/or reckless not to care about the consequences. Rhaegar/Lyanna, Jaime/Cersei - they’re not meant to be romantic, epic love stories. They’re meant to be examples of what not to do. Jaime has learnt that. Sansa has learnt that. Jon and Daenerys, at this point, have not yet learnt that particular lesson. 

 

And speaking of lessons, it has never made any sense to me that Sansa and Arya were not raised - considering the spectre of Lyanna’s fate and the horror of the ensuing war - by Ned and Catelyn to understand that lesson. I imagine Lyanna would actually be a major point of contention between Ned & Cat: Cat because Brandon was executed as a result of Lyanna’s recklessness - if we are going off the widely accepted story that she went willingly with Rhaegar -, and Ned because he reveres Lyanna above all others, but we don’t see this at all in canon. It makes no sense that Sansa and Arya are not guarded within an inch of their lives when they are outside Winterfell, and even within Winterfell - no sense at all, except that GRRM needed them to wander alone for plot purposes. 

 

At this point, of course, Jaime does not know _for certain_ about Sansa and Jon, but he is picking up on the clues Sansa gives him. Sansa and Jon not having a magically perfect first night together (as wonderful as that is to read) was something I thought was coherent with Jon’s character. My rationale for this was that despite the general fandom’s perception of him as some sort of sex god - he’s only ever been with Ygritte in canon, and she was the one in charge there. When you combine that with Sansa’s experiences of rape and torture and the resulting trauma of that, well, you really don’t have a recipe for a good night. Sansa’s self-flagellation here was difficult for me to write, but I included it because I thought it was absolutely where her head would be at in those circumstances. 

 

I’m the kind of writer who enjoys writing angst as much as for the narrative coherence of the piece as the opportunities for deep characterisation that it gives me because I enjoy feeling that emotional gut punch. That’s what I think any form of storytelling is about, at its core: making the reader _feel_ something. 

 

Sansa is genuinely surprised when Jaime offers her comfort instead of agreeing that she is frigid or not ‘enough’ as she imagines other men have done. And then there’s the hand touch (aka my period drama fascination rearing its head again lol).

 

Then the raven interrupts the moment of communion and there’s this moment of allegiance-swearing of allyship, where the emphatic nature of the words spoken perhaps betrays more than either of them is necessarily aware. 

 

Arya was difficult to write here; trying to walk that tightrope caused by the clusterfuck that was her S7 storyline. Yes, Arya and Sansa worked together to bring Littlefinger down, but when it comes to Jon… that’s an entirely different story. Because Arya absolutely refuses to believe that Jon would do what he has done - namely bend the knee to a Targaryen invader, and more fundamentally that he would choose another over House Stark. It is jealousy, a very childish form of jealousy, that cuts very deep. And Sansa has always greatly feared that Arya, when push came to shove, that Arya would choose Jon over her. So Sansa does the only thing she can - not out of manipulation but because she sees it is the most viable solution: let the lords decide by whom they shall be ruled, as they declared for Robb and then for Jon.

 

I don’t think Sansa realises they will declare her as Queen, she doesn’t anticipate it. It’s a moment of nervousness, not jubilation, when she sinks to her knees and accepts. It’s an image that I had, very vividly in my head - I knew as soon as I decided that that was going to happen, that that was _how_ it was going to happen. It’s also an inverted mirroring of Robb and Jon’s actions when the lords first declared for them; they stood, Sansa kneels. I also knew there would be some form of vow that Sansa takes in that moment, inspired by coronation vows. The very specific wording of said vow is significant because it not only explicates her philosophy of rule but also shows that she has learnt from the mistakes Robb made, for example. 

 

The confrontation between the two Stark sisters has been brewing since S1; there’s a lot of history and resentment and jealousy there. I also think Arya has not matured emotionally since season one due to all the trauma she has experienced. She might be an assassin but she also embodies the heart-wrenching tragedy of the child soldier. And so all of that feeds into this incredibly charged, painful confrontation.

 

Arya just wants Jon back. 

 

She doesn’t care about Daenerys or the wider political situation - it doesn’t register with her at all; she just wants her favourite family member back with her. 

 

And this means the realisation of one of Sansa’s greatest fears: Arya choosing Jon over her. All Sansa wanted as a young girl was to be truly accepted for who she was by her family; instead she was treated by her siblings at best as an afterthought, by her father as a pawn when he did not neglect her, and by her mother as a doll. So is it any wonder Sansa wanted to go South? All that baggage means this confrontation with Arya devastates Sansa. 

 

The point is absolutely _not_ to vilify Arya in any way; both sisters’ emotions are absolutely valid and understandable within the context of their own experiences. But there is an inability there - on both sides - to bridge the gap between them, and that has serious emotional consequences for both Sansa and Arya. Deep down, they want reconciliation. They don’t like being at odds and suspicious of each other, but there’s a long way to go before that element of trust is fully re-established, because it is so ingrained in them that they are so different from one another, with different skills, strengths, and ways of looking at the world. That doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. It simply means their relationship is complicated, and that work will be required on both sides in order to reach a détente.

 

In this chapter, Arya is hurtling headlong towards future angst for herself. She will have to make a decision, and make one quickly, about where she stands on the whole Daenerys-Jon-Sansa debacle. It will probably be one of the most difficult decisions of her life, because for so long her narrative, like Sansa’s, has been about coming home to Winterfell. But what now, now that Arya is home, only to find, as Sansa did in seasons 5 and 6 of the show, that the Winterfell of _now_ is not the Winterfell of the past. How does one cope with that? Arya idolises Jon, and she’s come home to find that her memories of her favourite brother/cousin don’t match up at all with what everyone tells her he has become, and the cognitive dissonance of that affects her emotionally. Of course it does. It’s far easier and far less painful to believe the lie, in this case. 

 

Then Jaime arrives on the scene, and we have the first instance of the truth/flattery leitmotif. He is the first person in a very, very long time to build Sansa up again, and probably the first person to tell her outright that the torments she has endured were squarely the faults of her abusers, not her. I feel very strongly about victim-blaming and victim-shaming in general, and I also think it’s important to call it out even in fiction, as Jaime does here. With all of the disgusting reports in the news these days about men abusing their positions of authority, I felt it was especially important to put the words calling out the victim-blaming into the mouth of the male protagonist. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thoughts?


	3. JAIME II - NOTES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you as always for your lovely comments, they're always fascinating to read, especially on something like this. I thought I'd already posted this section, but realised this morning I had not, so here it is! Again, this probably won't make much sense if you haven't read the actual chapter, because this is a mix of process notes, meta, and things I found particularly striking when writing this chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy, and as always, I eagerly await your thoughts/impressions in the comments section!

 

* * *

 

 

PART THREE - JAIME II

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

21/01/19 - It is strange to think that this story was once planned as a simple three-chapter short story, and that it has grown to its current state. Sansa’s speech about the cross-country journey in high winter between White Harbor and Winterfell that the Dragon Queen and her faction make seemed to me to be a good way of getting around the problem of describing the journey when I couldn’t use a POV of one of the characters undergoing said journey. The speech itself has two major influences: firstly, Napoleon’s ill-fated campaign into Russia (the parallels between Napoleon and Daenerys are deliberate on my part, as I find them an interesting and fitting leitmotif for her character) and secondly, funnily enough, Saruman’s speech in the second LOTR film about Helm’s Deep. The speech is one of my favourites of the whole narrative for the way it evokes the Northron landscape, how harsh and inhospitable it is, which was what I wanted to achieve.

 

There is so much symbolism in the way both Sansa and Jaime dress - which again is entirely deliberate both on the parts of the characters and on mine. It’s a conscious motif I use throughout the narrative; and one I enjoy because period fashions are so much fun to describe. In this case, Sansa’s cloak is symbolic of her tripartite realm, and indeed Jaime focuses on her cloak because that’s the safest thought he can voice. There is much more he’s realising, much more he wants to speak about, but those things are not exactly appropriate for such a public setting. Again, not that he consciously understands it in such a way. Writing characters who haven’t yet come to the realisation you wish as an author for them to come to - the realisation that you as an author indeed know they will come to at some point - is a challenge I’ve enjoyed cutting my teeth upon, because it isn’t something I’ve tackled before in my writing. The importance of the symbolism with the caparisons for their horses lies in the equality and alliance it implies: it presents a united front which will be echoed physically later in the chapter. The symbolism of the way the two characters dress, and the way they use pageantry in general isn’t merely deliberate, or a frivolous detail to give the scene a bit more panache. It speaks to an understanding of soft power - something Sansa and Jaime both have - which also then contrasts dramatically with Daenerys only understanding hard power. It is a core weapon of Sansa and Jaime’s arsenal. 

 

The whole thing as a result becomes a symbol of equality between the two as much as a symbol of personal alliance which foreshadows the later deepening of their alliance on both a personal and political level later on in the narrative, and indeed all of this pageantry means that when Sansa announces her marriage, it is not challenged by the Dragon Queen or any of her entourage - because the marriage, whilst the Dragon Queen might not like it, is nevertheless seen as plausible.

 

Daenerys Targaryen understands pageantry very differently: only insofar as it is used to project an image of strength for the explicit purpose of _intimidation,_ of conquering, of rule. The finer nuances of the symbolism of Sansa’s cloak escape her - though those nuances of course do not escape Tyrion or even Jon. 

 

Things like the sound of cloth flapping in the wind and frightening horses is a detail lifted from my own experience around horses. For something that involves horses, I try as much as possible to include those details, because otherwise they become a bit non-entities. Especially for Jaime, as a renowned knight and horseman, I thought that would be unrealistic. He is definitely going to be very interested in the quality of what he is riding. So Jaime’s chapters especially, do have that expanded detail upon the horses. 

 

Specifically, when Jaime is at the head of the procession with all the pageantry surrounding him, the idea is a little bit that this is the first time he feels his regaining of his honour for the first time since slaying the Mad King, is being shown and acknowledged publicly. Private acknowledgement from his allies and his bannermen is one thing; but especially for the child he once was who wanted nothing so much as to be Arthur Dayne and a true knight, the procession almost feels like a return to that dream, that idealism. He’s regaining a bit of his idealism, and it is significant that Sansa is the enabler and provider of that. 

 

This is not to say that Brienne’s role in the return of Jaime’s idealism is not important; because it is - but to me Brienne’s role in Jaime’s life is a foil, almost a reincarnation of what Arthur Dayne was to him as a young boy: an elder brother, a mentor, a guiding hand. Brienne performs a similar office, I think. Sansa, on the other hand, is Jaime’s declared _last chance for honour._ When you compare the roles of these three characters: Jaime, Sansa, Brienne, to the chivalric tales which are the inspiration - Arthurian romances, _chansons de geste_ , poetry of the troubadour - you quickly realise that Jaime is the knight given the quest, Brienne is the boon companion, and Sansa - Sansa is the _distant lady_ who is the goal of the quest - whether the quest is a rescue or an adventure to prove oneself a worthy suitor it makes no difference - the significant point in this tale archetype is that the lady is distant. Distance in the sense of physical distance, as in Game of Thrones, distant in the sense of being married/betrothed and therefore unavailable except as the lady in a ritual of courtly love, or indeed distant in the sense that the knight may never have met/set eyes upon the lady to whom he swears allegiance (or even professes undying love for simply by hearing of her) before undertaking a quest _in her name_ and marrying her at the end _._ Compare the triangle archetype to the roles in which Jaime, Brienne and Sansa find themselves, you not only realise that the three fit the archetype, but that Sansa, in relation to Jaime, has at various points in the narrative been all three kinds of distant mentioned above. 

 

All of this to say that those considerations mean this moment is particularly poignant for Jaime, including for reasons he may not be conscious of or indeed ready to acknowledge. There is an evolution between Sansa and Jaime in this chapter, which at the point of the procession consists of becoming more at ease with one another, bolder and more personal with their banter, and indeed playful!Jaime - a prelude to the fiendishly teasing!Jaime we get later in the narrative - is great fun to write. I worried at first that the banter might be overdone, but I think upon reflection that it fits the characters. 

 

As for the confrontation itself between Sansa, Jaime, Jon, Daenerys and Tyrion, I knew from very early on that I wanted there to be this impression of a neon flashing sign over their heads spelling _AWKWARD!_ I wanted there to be this slightly incredulous, hysterical tone, because it is obviously so far from anything Daenerys Targaryen’s faction could ever have anticipated would greet them. 

 

Sansa’s speech to Daenerys at the gates of Winterfell is very much inspired not so much by the speeches but by the descriptions of war and the toll of war upon men in Homer’s _Iliad,_ as well as accounts of Napoleon’s ill-starred venture into Russia. Combining the incredibly challenging physical conditions of that campaign with the visceral nature of the _Iliad,_ and you end up with something like Sansa’s speech. Homer’s _Iliad_ is one of my great inspirations for this story, along with Tolkien’s _Lord of the Rings,_ and I hope that comes across, somehow. Though the original scale of this story might have been infinitely smaller, it was always the intention that it have something of that grand, melancholy, visceral, noble scale. Sansa’s speech is also important because I wanted to make Daenerys’s march to Winterfell from White Harbor realistic. As a quick look at maps of Westeros will show, there are no roads between the two. Combined with mid-winter temperatures and resulting weather phenomena like blizzards, combined with a host that knows nothing of what can be hunted and foraged in these lands, is not at all equipped for the venture, combined with horses devoid of the shaggy winter coats that keeps them warm _and_ the lack of knowledge - which older horses teach young horses in the appropriate climates only, it is not something taught from man to mount - of how to scrape away the snow to find some blade of grass beneath, and quite frankly, to put this bluntly - the lack of a functioning road is irrelevant - what you have is nothing short of a recipe for disaster. 

 

Sansa’s speech also illustrates the following character point: she’s very good at rhetoric, at speaking of politics. When it comes to speaking of her personal feelings, she is not so at ease, and interestingly, Jaime is almost the opposite at this, the near beginning of this narrative - and so they learn from one another, and that is a significant point, the way this leitmotif occurs throughout the narrative was entirely subconscious on my part until chapters six-seven, after which point it is developed and deployed in an absolutely deliberate manner. 

 

I have always felt Daenerys’s habit of announcing herself by all her titles - or indeed having someone to do it for her - to be pompous at best, even ludicrous and absolutely counter-productive at worst. To put this to a comparison: not even Joffrey was announced so excessively. Letters in writing are an entirely different beast: depending upon the formality of the communication, or the political objectives involved, such a thing is not only expected but a habitual provocation. Doing the same in person has a very different effect. And here, the bombast is greeted by the Northron lords especially with a withering kind of disdain, even dismissal. 

 

Tyrion’s reaction here to Jaime was challenging to write because it is entirely non-verbal, this first exchange. A further difficulty came with the sheer mess of feelings Jaime’s appearance thus - in full formal regalia and what is obviously the symbols of the highest office of the West - provokes in his younger brother, and I think Tyrion as a result reveals far more to Jaime than he is perhaps aware of revealing, or indeed that he might wish to reveal: shock, bitter jealousy, incredulous surprise, and perhaps even a sinking feeling that he has more greatly miscalculated than he could ever have anticipated. At this point, the Lannister brothers’ relationship is a convoluted tangle which I enjoy unravelling as the narrative moves forward. 

 

_“I did not agree with Tywin Lannister about many things,”_ is a line of Sansa’s I thought quite hard about whether or not to include because it is such an unexpected statement for her to make, but it pretty well set up the comparison between Daenerys and Joffrey that this segues into. Like Jaime, kudos to the readers who suspected in previous chapters that Tywin Lannister’s famous line _any man who must declare that he is King is no true King at all_ would come up in reference to Daenerys. 

 

Wordplay and verbal traps are skills that Sansa has honed over the years, first in King’s Landing, then the Vale and Winterfell. It was important, I felt, for the coherence of the narrative, to introduce that idea early on. Tyrion, of course, is intelligent enough to see the trap coming, but there is nothing he can do except watch his ruler walk straight into it and hence make a mess of things at such an early and crucial juncture. Daenerys is impulsive and hot-headed, and Tyrion spent most of season 7 failing to rein her back from her worst impulses. Jon has more success - for the time being. 

 

I’m quite proud of the little plot twist announced by Lyanna Mormont’s line _forgive me, but I wasn’t speaking to you._ Figuring out the mechanics of how Northron, Westerlander, Vale and Riverlander independence would be revealed was quite a challenge, and I thought this was a pretty tidy solution to that problem. I had quite a vivid image in my head of Jaime’s genuine gallantry here, and I also quite like the fact that it is Sansa who introduces him here. 

 

The connection between Jaime and Sansa had to develop organically - I was quite firm with myself about that. The pace had to be measured, of course, but I focused far more upon an organic development, my reasoning being that that would then determine the pace, and I suppose the way I went about doing that was making sure to include the little moments. 

 

The discussion then moves on to the notion of open rebellion, and this is where Daenerys shows she really needs to brush up on her history. It is something consistent with her character, I think, given her exile and the conditions of her upbringing as a young child, principally by an elder brother whom I think we can all agree gave her a very skewed version of events. Nor is there any suggestion of her ever acquiring any sort of formal education, to the point where I think it is debatable whether or not she can actually read. This is, of course, not her fault at all. What _is,_ however, far more damning, is that she shows absolutely no inclination whatsoever to educate herself to compensate for those shortcomings. When has she ever picked up an atlas of Westeros or studied the history of the Great Houses, the better to understand those she would rule. She had Ser Barristan at her disposal, Tyrion too. Where is the in depth questioning of the knowledge they possess? 

 

The lords of the conclave - and indeed any group of seasoned courtiers or political operators - look precisely for this kind of weakness, this kind of chink in the armour, because it is so easily and readily exploited. That Daenerys has no interest in learning about the Westerosi cultures, is something that I think is only logical will have serious consequences down the line, both in the show, books and this story. 

 

Continuing upon the theme of Westerosi cultures; it has always seemed strange to me that only Dorne and the North are depicted as having substantially different ways and customs to the rest of the continent, given that centralised rule under a single monarch has only lasted for the past three hundred years upon a continent where in some places like Starfall, you have over ten thousand years, and Casterly Rock and Winterfell over eight thousand years of recorded history. In the very great majority of that time, Starfall and Casterly Rock and Winterfell too, to continue with the selfsame examples, were independently ruled, and it makes very little sense that only three centuries of highly turbulent Targaryen rule should manage to overcome every last vestige of individual culture. The second motive for my doing and including more world-building is far more prosaic; I happen to very much enjoy it. This particular ‘clamouring’ manner of election to Kingship was directly inspired by the Ancient Roman practice which was much the same - acclaiming a patrician general _imperator,_ which is indeed where we get the word _emperor_ from. The reasoning for this is that to me, the West in my interpretation, has much in common with the likes of cultures such as Ancient Rome and Sparta, or indeed the city-states of Renaissance Tuscany, when it comes to such things as art, architecture, military fighting styles. So I took those bare bones and ran with the concept, greatly elaborating upon it. 

 

And then we come to the gambit - _burn us all._ It is a highly risky move, but as Sansa says, the political consequences of doing this would be devastating for Daenerys, and that is what Jaime and Sansa are banking upon. Jaime’s experience upon that second Field of Fire in battle against Daenerys; the importance of it cannot be overstated. It is not merely that it re-triggers highly traumatic memories of his time as Aerys the Mad’s Kingsguard: it is that it goes to the core of who he is - he will not - he _can not -_ suffer to see the like happen ever again. 

 

As evidenced by canon, Daenerys’s idea of negotiation is simply restating her demands couched in flamboyant rhetoric, so that is what she does here, to no avail. The various lords of the conclave and Sansa debunk the Dragon Queen’s assertions. I do not believe she has had her aims and demands and desires so completely deconstructed before, so fully challenged. Despite her dragons, Daenerys is on the back foot here - due to lack of logistical preparation, as well as, as has been previously stated, a severe lack of knowledge of Westerosi codes and customs and culture. 

 

The contrast between Daenerys and Sansa is explicit and deliberate, and in her _in good faith_ speech Sansa elucidates this contrast by explaining her philosophy of rule which Jaime shares. It is there for the purpose of pushing both the other characters as well as the reader to think critically. Daenerys’s reply of _you will bend the knee to me_ shows how completely she has missed the point about philosophy of rule. It is more than a clash between two women who have a complicated relationship with Jon Snow, though Sansa is certainly thinking _this? this is whom you chose over me?_ during the course of this interaction and that does feed into Sansa’s glacial rebuttals, but just as importantly, this is also an ideological clash between the two. They get nowhere; there is a real impasse here, but Sansa and Jaime have one more card to play. They hold the leverage in this situation: they are comfortable behind the walls of a fortress, with the logistical support that entails, and it is perfectly feasible for them to retreat into the castle and wait until the Targaryen faction perish of exposure and hunger. And so they walk away to force a second negotiation. 

 

The envoy gambit works, and the chapter ends upon a real sense - I hope - of disaster having been narrowly averted, and even a sense of some tentative hope. 

 

For now. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Comments? Impressions?

**Author's Note:**

> thoughts? comments?


End file.
